The Lonely Forest - the pride of Anacortes, Washington - have taken the Pacific Northwest by storm recently. The four piece rock band has developed a rabid fan-base in the area culminating in sold out shows at Seattle's Showbox Theatre, a coveted slot at Sasquatch! in May, and now a record deal with Chris Walla's new label, Trans. Walla, guitarist and producer for Grammy-nominated rock band Death Cab for Cutie, made The Lonely Forest his first signing when he launched Trans in conjunction with Warner Music Group's Independent Label Group.Their first new release on Trans will be a self-titled, five song digital EP out September 14. ...

After a long run on their hugely successful and critically acclaimed Cauzin' Vapors... Legalize It US amphitheater tour with Cypress Hill, Steel Pulse, and more (where the band performed to anywhere from 5,000 - 20,000 of their most loyal fans), San Diego-based dub/rock/psychedelic-jam phenoms Slightly Stoopid are gearing up to perform at this year's renowned Lollapalooza festival in Chicago. Sharing the stage with some of the biggest names around, the band will perform alongside the likes of Green Day, Lady Gaga, a newly reformed Soundgarden, Social Distortion, Arcade Fire and more. Recently, the band has announced that they've spent the past few months collaborating in their band-built home studio (equipped with video ...

 Junip is a Gothenburg, Sweden-based rock trio that is fronted by acclaimed singer/songwriter/guitarist José González. The band was formed in the late '90s by González along with drummer Elias Araya and organ and moog player Tobias Winterkorn. The early critical response to the band has been glowing. Pitchfork gave the Rope & Summit EP an 8.0 rating, saying that the music favors "simplicity and shade while retaining the uncluttered sonic arranging that so often serves as a trademark of Gonzalez's...we won't have to wait long to hear more from Junip, and if it holds serve from Rope, the only disappointment will be that Gonzalez could've been holding out on us for too lon...

There is a precise point early on in Recitation where it dawns on us that there truly is no other band quite like Envy. 90 seconds into album opener "Guidance," amid a subtle symphony of synth washes, backwards guitar harmonics and chiming bells, a solitary female voice recites what sounds like a poetry in a language that few Envy fans outside of Japan can understand. And yet, its beauty is undeniable, and the emotional resonance is transcendent, sounding like a Japanese love letter to Brian Eno. This is why labels like "post-hardcore" feel so clumsy and slippery when slung at Envy; such tags assume a starting point that's miles away from where Envy began and worlds away from where they are n...

The Bright Light Social Hour is an American rock band from Austin, Texas. Born out of a university art-rock collective, The Bright Light Social Hour has evolved into an unabashedly wide-screen rock group, melding fists-up rock and roll with muscular funk, soul, and psychedelia. The band recently swept the 29th Annual Austin Music Awards during SXSW 2011 with an unprecedented 6 wins, including Band of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year ("Detroit").The Central Texas-raised young men of The Bright Light Social Hour have built their growing reputation thr...

The Indie music scene has rapidly become one of the fastest growing, if not the fastest growing, segments within the music industry as a whole. Starting way back with bands like R.E.M., Jane's Addiction, Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana, indie music has exploded. Just thinking about all of the most recent break out bands is enough to make your head spin: MGMT, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem, Kid Cudi...we could keep going. ...

Briefly about the Long Play 33 1/3 Band:The Long Play 33 1/3 is a britpop-rock/indie band formed in the second half of 2009 in Budapest (Hungary). Members are hungarian musicians from different music line-ups, and their mission is to entertain us with their own English compositions via digital surfaces or with live perfomances.Style: Britpop-rock / indie Members: István Békei - Lead vocal and guitars (other performances - The BlackBirds hungarian Beatles tribute band and FG-4 - Illés and Fonográf tribute band)Zsolt Derecskei - Vocal, Keyboards, guitar (other performances - The BlackBirds hungarian Beatles tribute...

In a time when most artists spend the bulk of their energy trying to brainstorm over clever band names and contrived marketing schemes, it's refreshing to see a group that picks honesty over hyperbole. With that very notion in mind, the members in Chicago's beloved Blah Blah Blah, decided long ago that the music is what matters the most. And who can blame them? With such an unassuming name like that, you better make damn sure that your music is way better than just good enough.Comprised of two friends from Iowa and two Chicago musicians, the midwest quartet really found their footing in 2010 after being voted one of the Chicago Tribune's next bands on the verge of breaking BIG-TIME. Pioneering the ...

The Dive were formed in the year 2000.They've shared the stage with bands like Mudhoney ,Brant Bjork, Nightstalker ,Truckfighters and played live all around Greece.After participating in some compilations ,in the spring of 2011 ,they released their self-titled debut album on Spinalonga records and Lab records.Influenced mostly from 70s and 90s rock ,garage and punk they produce a psychedelic mix with their own, unique soundprint. ...

At 32 years old i've had the chance to learn plenty but it's never enough., using everyday as a band new day to learn a band new thing. if not learn a whole new thing then an opportunity to re insure the things i do know. iI'm pretty hype to shit  and i read them real quick. so i know that w/ time things need to be renewed or up graded. when i was in the 6th grade (this is when i really got in to science) the teacher was explaining what and how a "Science Project"  was. I thought its was easy enough and all ready had things id like to find the answers to. So (im a person that  LOVES to find out if a person is BULLSHITTING me (especially a teacher). i was going to find out two things in this 1 opportunity (my origina...

Hailing from Huntington Beach, CA. HB Surround Sound was established in the summer of 1999. Fresh out of high school, HBSS burst onto the local Orange County punk scene with their unique blend of rude-boy/reggae/punk. With a super tight live show HBSS quickly became the face of Reggae/Rock in Orange County. Over the next 7 years the band released three albums and were featured on various compilations such as: Sense Boardwear Vol. 1 & 2, One Big Family (Japan), Hen House records, Urban Outfitters and many more. After the independent release of their first two albums (Self-titled 2000 and Kill all the Critics 2002), the boys te...

Seryn is a 5 piece band who calls Denton, Texas their home.  When listening to the well layered textures of guitars, ukulele, accordion, bass, viola, banjo and various percussion, it's hard to imagine This Is Where We Are is the band's debut effort.  The band's strength resides in their vast musical talent and understanding of dynamics. Their beauty is gracefully displayed through chilling harmonies. Each member and their voice carry the same importance. One is not co...

It is always refreshing to find fresh, new talent working at creating music that rides against the grain of complacency. It's even more intriguing (and rare) when the artist is barely a teenager. And that is exactly what we found with 13-year-old Richmond, VA's Bryanna Rain. With a mere independently-released EP entitled ‘Blameless,' she fearlessly embraces a form of electronic music that bridges the gaps between rock, dance, and soul. And although we are only given a taste of her abilities, the strength of the work is enough to anticipate great things from the young artist. Read on as we spend some time getting to know a bit about Bryanna Rain! MM: In r...

Monotonix are back – but how can this be, if they never really went away? They’re the People’s Rock Band, playing anywhere and everywhere that they’re allowed to play all around the world. Nobody anywhere has played more gigs than Monotonix over the past two years. Nobody –unless “playing gigs” is code for scratching one’s ass, in which case, we’re all as Godly as the Monotonix crew.Speaking of ass, wait’ll you see the back of Where Were You When It Happened? ! What it lacks in cheek, it makes up for in crack. But what are Monotonix supposed to do? Fans of their incredible live energy insist that their first record, the “Body Language” EP, is great,...

You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can judge an artist by their remixes. The enigmatic English duo Mock & Toof shouldn't have any qualms with that. After all, the pair's notoriety has come thanks in large part to the strength of a few dozen club-disintegrating edits and radical re-envisionings. Mock & Toof first earned the ears of another pair of proficient remixers, Tim Goldworthy and James Murphy, when they blindly emailed a demo to an address listed on the Death From Above imprint's website.Soon after, the duo would be routinely called upon to re-contextualize the work of The Juan Maclean, Holy Ghost, Hot Chip, and other crown jewels of the DFA stable. All that before their ecstatic, elastic-p...

The Dø didn't set out to make music history - but it happened anyway. The Franco- Finnish duo with the odd name (pronounced "dough," by the way) released its debut album, A Mouthful, in France in 2008, and the record soared to the top of the charts. This made The Dø the first French act to ever hit the #1 spot with an album sung in English. The decision to write those songs in English wasn't a great career move - France is notoriously protective of its mother tongue, and French acts that don't sing in French are restricted in the amount of radio play and exposure they can get. But The Dø's music proved to be irresistible. Now, America is about to learn why.The Dø has conjured ...

2009 was a watershed year for Lily Frost. Off the top, she received a Gemini nomination for the score, which she co-wrote, of the hit TV show "Being Erica". Lily also co-wrote the theme song "Everything I Ever Wanted to Be" (She will be appearing, as herself, in a second-season episode, and you know you've turned a certain corner, fame-wise, when you appear "as yourself" in anything.)To support the release of "Lily Swings," she toured all over Canada with her western swing band (called "The Debonairs" in honour of the late great Canadian underground legend Ray Condo), performing songs from the repertoire of Billie Holiday, to packed houses and standing ...

Things have been looking up for Eastern Conference Champions, and they keep on getting better. After parting ways with their major label, ECC embraced their new found independence and got back to work. The trio, consisting of Joshua Ostrander, Greg Lyons and Melissa Dougherty, self-released the Santa Fe EP in the fall of 2009 which was widely received as their best offering to date. They soon realized the joys of being in full control of their music and career. "Every decision comes down to the three of us, just how it should be," says Ostrander.The band was originally formed in Bucks County, PA when longtime friends and collaborators Ostrander and Lyons parted ways with their old group, Laguardia. They ...

Empires: DIY Band Gives It Away for FreeIn 2007, two long time friends, Tom Conrad and Sean Van Vleet who were both looking for a change in their lives, reconnected. "Sean and I went to high school together. We were both going through some changes at about the same time and decided to start over back home in Chicago," said Conrad. They had no thought about starting a band, but when they reconnected with another friend, Ryan Luciani and then Max Steeger, who Conrad had known since Steeger was 12, it just all fell into place. "We were friends long before we were band mates. We all have different perspectives musically, but there's a collective mindset that makes it all work," said Conrad...

PEELANDER-Z, the Japanese Action Comic Punk Band based in NYC, was originally formed in 1998 by Peelander-Yellow, Peelander-Red, and Peelander-Blue, after meeting in New York City (although they'll tell you they're all from the Z area on the planet Peelander). Peelander-Green was welcomed in July 2008 after Blue left the band. Peelander-Z has appeared at major music festivals including Bonnaroo, CMJ and SXSW, and played with artists such as Buckethead, Electric SIx, Particles, The Vibrators, and Guitar Wolf. P...

Launching the campaign for their new album Eraser with the release of “She’s So Up” rapidly sparked the attention of fans and critics alike. Continuing on the impressive trend, the past few months have seen The Knux first blow the minds of SXSW-goers, then take their party on the road with their House Tour Party indulging the West Coast this past May.  Then they were selected for the coveted spots to perform with Weezer in Austin for their special sold out Blue Album and Pinkerton performances. Just a few days later, they infatuated Bonnaroo attendees with their crowd surfing and other stage antics.  Another few days after, they were in Vancouver playing with none other than Ki...

Charles Worth (born October 20, 1986 in Cleveland, Ohio) better known by his stage name Chip tha Ripper is an American rapper and actor signed to his own record label, SLAB Entertainment. Releasing 3 projects, “Money”, “Can’t Stop Me” & his most recent release “The Cleveland Show”. Chip’s first album titled “Gift Raps” will be independently released through SLAB Entertainment & a collab group with friend Kid Cudi, titled “The Almighty GloryUS” to be released in the near future. Chip has appeared on hundreds of national mixtapes. Legendary producer Hi-Tek put Chip on his first industry album Hi-Teknology 3, followed by a feature on Kid Cudi&rsq...

Charles Burst is a songwriter from New York City, who, prior to launching a solo career, played drums and sang in the psychedelic and celebrated rock quintet The Occasion. Active from 2000-2006, The Occasion released two albums and toured the US with everyone from Acid Mothers Temple, Interpol, Make Believe, The Ponys and more. Since then, Burst has recorded two LP's under his own name for Ernest Jenning Records - 2009's Come Home and Feast, and The Famous Patient, due July 27th, 2010. He continues to work as a freelance drummer, joining Julian Plenti, AC Newman, and Begushkin on recent albums and tours.The Famous Patient, and the accompanying seven inch, "Neighbor Song," produced by Phil Palazzolo (Okke...

Several years ago when singer/songwriter Ria was a student at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, she had a chance to perform for Melissa Etheridge at Matthews Arena in Boston at an event where the famed singer earned her doctorate from the school. Running into Ria after Ria had done her number, Etheridge exclaimed "You rocked my world!" With the release of Ria's self titled independent debut, it's our turn to be rocked-but, musically, the Colombian born, Miami raised performer is doing a lot more than rocking. Her multi-faceted collection includes tracks that range from soft pop to what she calls "R&B pop with an attitude and bluesy melodies," dance pop and, drawing on her own  cultural influences and ...

Blending elements of rock, punk, Avant Garde, free jazz, ska, surf, and that funky "je ne sais quoi" possessed by many Japanese girl bands, TsuShiMaMiRe comprises Yayoi (bass), Mari (guitar and vocals), and Mizue (drums).The band was formed in 1999 when the girls were still in college. While performing at local venues, TsuShiMaMiRe recorded the demo singles "Hamburger Set" (1999) and "Bloody Mohawk" (2001). The band signed a recording deal with a Tokyo based indepe...

What is a 50 year old Wildlife Biologist doing putting out on CD? That would probably be your first question, and you'd be right to ask it. Bryan Gorsira has been writing songs for over thirty years. By his own admission he is not the performer he might like to be, so he's enlisted the help of some very talented people to help make his musical vision shine (Tom Manche, Dana Cooper and Julie Forester, to name a few). The first thing you should know is that Bryan Gorsira is actually a talented songwriter, and with the musical guidance of Tom Manche, has created a surprisingly pleasing collection of tunes. His songs form an interesting collection, with flashes of brilliance, and with styles mostly centered in singer/songwriter, but also ran...

Goodbye, Killer (released June 15th) by Pernice Brothers is Joe Pernice's first band album since 2006's Live a Little. In several weeks-long bursts of work over the course of a couple of years, in between writing a novel, recording a soundtrack for said novel, touring on both, and doing real-life things, Joe, his brother Bob, and long-time collaborators James Walbourne (Pretenders, Son Volt, Peter Bruntnell) and Ric Menck (Matthew Sweet, Velvet Crush) holed up in an attic in Boston and recorded these 10 Pernice originals.Over a 15-year career in music, Pernice has made 13 full-length records. He began in the mid-90's, with Scud Mountain Boys, who released two albums (Pine Box and Dance the Night Away, lat...

A visit to his Plateau apartment in Montreal reveals an endless collection of records from Bob Dylan to Ray Charles. An avid fan of vinyl, Leif Vollebekk wrote half the songs for his own, Inland, while studying Icelandic and Philosophy in Reykjavik, Iceland. The other half were written upon his return home, where he recorded and self-produced the album a short time later at Montreal's Breakglass studio (Wolf Parade, Patrick Watson, Besnard Lakes). Arranged and orchestrated entirely by Leif, Inland is primarily centered around Leif's acoustic guitar and story-telling, featuring string quartets on occasion, piano at times, and splashes of harmonica and drums.Inland was released by Nevado Records (Bahamas, Y...

The rock band LICK AND A PROMISE began in the summer of 2005 in the vicinity of Frankfurt, Germany. After struggling with a few producers over artistic preferences, Manuel Elsesser (g) and Jochen W. Thoma (voc) decided to take fate in their own hands and worked together to produce their debut album "A Bitch Is A Bitch". Recruiting a local drummer and bass player, the group was complete - right on time for the upcoming recording sessions in early 2006. The resulting work, with the diverse styles of the band members, proved to be a musical success. After good reviews in national print media and online magazines worldwide, LICK AND A PROMISE started getting internet radio airplay on various stations and...

Think of combining Moby with Led Zeppelin, Massive Attack with Pink Floyd or The Chemical Brothers with The Velvet Underground, add a bit of Gypsy, Jazz, Reggae, Folk and Lo-fi Here and there and you've come a great way in defining Weird Bugger's genre-bending music. In 2010, after not having played a single note for 10 years, Dutch multi-instrumentalist Weird Bugger (real name Wiard Bakker - when properly pronounced in Dutch sounds very much like 'Weird Bugger' indeed) decided there was more to life than being an IT engineer so he got himself some new instruments an...